Tag Archive: Versions

Let’s say someone wants to give you their SQL Server database. Maybe they want you to manage it, troubleshoot it, or learn from it. So they hand you a .MDF file and .LDF file and tell you that you need SQL server 2008 R2 to open them. So you install SQL Server 2008 R2 Express (which, to your relief, is free). You open SQL Server Management Studio(SSMS), and you try to open the .MDF file. You get the following error:

Even if you’re completely new to SQL Server, you may have seen references to SQL Server Express. In fact, our last post was on installing SQL Server 2008 R2 Express. But you might want to back up a bit. Exactly what is Express and what can it do?

It’s more common than you would expect to have SQL Server installed on your machine without knowing the exact version or edition. With tools and applications installing SQL Server behind the scenes, you may have unknowingly installed SQL Server. In this post, I’ll try to quickly explain some easy ways to investigate this question. This will include: